Childcare after maternity leave!!! I need a plan!

Hi ladies! So my husband and I have called around to all the local day care centers that watch newborns and the prices abotu gave me a heart attack. The lady that worked at the center that I thought would be the best fit for our baby girl, said she needs to know MUCH more in advance when they are going to be watching the baby and need a set schedule.

I have a set work schedule but I start really early in the morning. And my husband doesn't have a set work schedule and only knows his schedule 2 weeks in advance.

Has anyone else ever been in this predicament before? What have you done? What worked best for you? What might you recommend?

How might I find a local nanny that is affordable?

thank you so much! I'm so stressed out over this and I just need to get a plan in place on what we're doing so I can make sure I have enough money to do all this

Comments (14)

I prefer in-home daycare over daycare centers. Just do your research and meet with the providers. The prices are typically much cheaper and I've always felt a closer relationship to the provider than at a center. I went from paying $900 a month to $440 and DS likes it more because he's with kids of all ages, not just his age like his center was divided into. I just googled state certified daycares, got some phone numbers and started making calls. Meet with a few and check out the facility/home. If they're state certified, they have certain requirements to comply to.

I SAH now, but with DD, DH & I both worked in retail. Our schedules were not at all regular. For that reason, we chose a daycare center. We were lucky enough to be living in a low cost area, so we paid $98/week. My mom also helped out when we both worked late. With our schedules, some days she only went to daycare one or two days a week, or only for half days, & some weeks she went full time the whole week. It didn't matter to the center when we dropped her off. If you have unpredictable schedules, that may be your best option. It might be hard to find a home daycare or nanny that can work with your schedules.

you may just need to do full time 8-5 monday through friday. Since your husband goes in later he can drop the baby off and you can pick the baby up. Then you know your baby has a place no matter your schedules.

I agree with PP - look into an in-home daycare. They are typically much more flexible when it comes to scheduling. I love the fact that they typically have a small number of kids (which means less germs to deal with) and IMO are more child/baby friendly when it comes to the personal needs of each child. When we interviewed daycare centers, they all said 12 month olds need to be on one nap. My DD took two naps until she was 18 months old and our in home daycare was totally fine with that! Our DD (2 y/o) and new baby will be going to an in home daycare that takes a maximum of 6 kids and does preschool lessons with the older ones while the babies nap.

Nanny 's and in-home child care providers are much more flexible and usually cheaper then daycare. Try word of mouth. I sent out a private message on FB to all my friends that are moms asking for child care recommendations . I got some good references . There are some websites I know people have used like sitter city.com and I think care. Com or something like that . Good luck.

This is why I went to pt with DD and quit my job with the second. Childcare is outrageous. You could move to Sweden. It's supposed to be the best place to raise children, partly bc of affordable (goverment subsidized) childcare.

I can't speak to infant care much because I was a full time student and just arranged classes differently, but I had both of my children watched/in care from about 1.5 years old in varying durations. I understand the scheduling issue because I had the same one - many day care had "blocks", and my schedule was way off so I would either not get enough care or have to pay for care I didn't use. I found a sort of preschool type place for my son that just charged part or full time rate, and you just have an amount of hours you can use within the open hours. I also did a bit of having a trusted friend watch my children on a couple days. Also, I had a nanny at one point. My nanny was very inexpensive and charged me 12/hr for child minding and housework. About 15/hr is usually the norm (my kids were older). I did all of these things not because I didn't like any of them, but because I moved 2 years ago and had to switch care, etc.
I cannot recommend in-home unless you REALLY look into it. I know there are wonderful in-home places, but I have heard way too many horror stories about things happening. At the end of the day, to me, unless I get a really good feeling from the place, that is not worth saving the money. Apparently in the states even to get licensed there are not enough regulations, even to get licensed. (just google Jessica Tata, TRIGGER warning).

I'm in so cal and u have been a licensed in home family Childcare provider. It is hard to find care in our area atleast for infant in centers thT don't require full time now you can take them part time but U have to pay f/t. If u can find an in home program that doesn't try to get to capacity suck as licensed for 6 but will only take 4 they'd ghat be more flexible. With a flex schedule u actually cost th money and this is their livelyhood. in out area infant care runs from $200-360 per week depending on program part time would run $65-80 per day if u can find it. This is one reason I chose to stay at homr

I was in school when my son was sent to daycare and my schedule changed a lot. Basically, they want to know how many days and approx how many hours. Obviously classes would change so I would say drop off is Mon, Tue, Fri between 7-8am and pick up between 3-4pm. Once they have sort of schedule...it gets easier from there. If it changes and such they're more lenient and able to work with you. If the baby is part time they need to know if they can squeeze it into what is available or give someone else a day that you won't be there...

With my son I had him in a center for about 4 weeks until I got fed up with them leaving him in poopy diapers and allowing him to cry himself to sleep. I nearly lost it on them and reported them twice. I quickly moved him to another center and I loved the place. The front office staff would go into the infant room and everyone would rock the babies...it was a very warm and inviting environment. However, we moved from there and I had to find a new center. I put him in a Christian preschool and loved it so much. But then the teacher resigned at the end of the year and the Pastors who took over boasted they discipline with guilt...and I quickly pulled him out of there. I actually found my now sitter on craigslist. I called a few people and could tell whether I liked them or not over the phone. When I met my sitter in person I just knew I loved her...everything about her...she is hillarious and parents the same way I do. She will be keeping our next one due in Sept. and I couldn't imagine trusting anyone else with our baby or paying the ridiculous prices! We're going to be paying about $175 a week for before/after school care of my 6 year old and full-time 10 hours days for the infant.

We have a nanny. Both DH and I work long hours (especially me, and mine can be irregular hours too). Where we live, a nanny is about twice as expensive as a good daycare. Only when you have two kids does a nanny become the same cost as daycare.

But every area is different. You should start researching cost of nannies in your area...

There are many other advantages to nannies too - personalized one on one care focused on your child (which is especially important in the first couple of years), less sickness/colds usually, no dropping off and picking up, etc etc.